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Ugh. This kind of arrogance is a significant contributing factor to the contentiousness of bitcoin discussion. Nobody is fearful of bitcoin, especially not with

Ugh. This kind of arrogance is a significant contributing factor to the contentiousness of bitcoin discussion. Nobody is fearful of bitcoin, especially not with regard to the idea that bitcoin will somehow replace fiat money and "devalue my pension fund". It's intellectually insulting and it goads skeptics into sarcastic and unproductive debate. When enthusiastic bitcoin supporters parade around this kind of nonsense while simultaneously heaping on volumes of nebulous praise like "transformative", "revolutionary", "world-changing", likening bitcoin to the early internet, claiming it will stop wars, stop corruption, free the people and all the rest, it really puts up red flags for a lot of people.

moe 12y ago
Nobody is fearful of bitcoin, especially not with regard to the idea that bitcoin will somehow replace fiat money and "devalue my pension fund" Then how would you explain this irrational aggression in every Bitcoin thread? As a case in point, why were you so eager to follow up with a strawman of your own: heaping on volumes of nebulous praise like "transformative", "revolutionary", "world-changing", likening bitcoin to the early internet, claiming it will stop wars, stop corruption, free the people and all the rest Neither waterlesscloud nor me wrote or implied anything like that. Why do you attack something stupid that someone else once said about Bitcoin, rather than presenting an actual argument versus my "intellectually insulting" idea that Bitcoin might touch on some mammalian "fear of change", or against any of waterlesscloud's observations?
- vectorpush 12y ago
  > Then how would you explain this irrational aggression in every Bitcoin thread? I don't consider downvotes aggression. I don't consider skepticism or even a general dislike of bitcoin to be aggression either. As far as the the discussion goes, bitcoin discourse is no more aggressive than any other technical topic on this forum. > Neither waterlesscloud nor me wrote or implied anything like that. A direct quote from waterlesscloud: >There's some truly transformative tech at the core of Bitcoin. waterlesscloud is only one example: ctr+f "revolutionary" or "early internet" in this thread for others. It's not a strawman because I'm not making an argument, I'm giving you examples of enthusiast rhetoric that turns people off; it's not "something stupid that someone else once said", it's a category of condescending platitudes commonly laid out by bitcoin enthusiasts. > presenting an actual argument versus my "intellectually insulting" idea that Bitcoin might touch on some mammalian "fear of change" My point is that painting bitcoin skeptics as irrational people who can't help but lash out due to a subconscious fear of what bitcoin might mean for world economics is insulting and also subtly pushes the narrative that bitcoin is such a clearly amazing technology that it would be reasonable to ascribe fear of bitcoin's success as a motivator for negative reactions to bitcoin. It's absurd.
  - moe 12y ago
    A direct quote from waterlesscloud: >There's some truly transformative tech at the core of Bitcoin. Calling the blockchain technology transformative doesn't put him in a bucket with people claiming "it will stop wars, stop corruption, free the people". Even if you disagree with that assertion, his comment was about the discussion culture surrounding bitcoin and certainly didn't deserve any downvotes. (the irony of seeing this particular comment grayed out was what triggered mine after all...) My point is that painting bitcoin skeptics as irrational people What's with the generalizations? I wrote "many people" and not "bitcoin skeptics". I was referring to people who can't be bitcoin skeptics by the sheer virtue of not knowing enough about it to form a coherent argument against it. People who seem to never get tired of regurgitating the ever same tulip bulb and "criminals" trites at every opportunity. People who downvote completely innocent comments like the one from waterlesscloud and make any normal discussion about the subject needlessly hard. Bitcoin skeptics are most welcome (I consider myself one), but you rarely see someone who actually knows a thing about Bitcoin (e.g. 0xFEED) bother posting in amidst the shitstorm anymore.

moe 12y ago

Nobody is fearful of bitcoin, especially not with regard to the idea that bitcoin will somehow replace fiat money and "devalue my pension fund" Then how would you explain this irrational aggression in every Bitcoin thread? As a case in point, why were you so eager to follow up with a strawman of your own: heaping on volumes of nebulous praise like "transformative", "revolutionary", "world-changing", likening bitcoin to the early internet, claiming it will stop wars, stop corruption, free the people and all the rest Neither waterlesscloud nor me wrote or implied anything like that. Why do you attack something stupid that someone else once said about Bitcoin, rather than presenting an actual argument versus my "intellectually insulting" idea that Bitcoin might touch on some mammalian "fear of change", or against any of waterlesscloud's observations?

vectorpush 12y ago
> Then how would you explain this irrational aggression in every Bitcoin thread? I don't consider downvotes aggression. I don't consider skepticism or even a general dislike of bitcoin to be aggression either. As far as the the discussion goes, bitcoin discourse is no more aggressive than any other technical topic on this forum. > Neither waterlesscloud nor me wrote or implied anything like that. A direct quote from waterlesscloud: >There's some truly transformative tech at the core of Bitcoin. waterlesscloud is only one example: ctr+f "revolutionary" or "early internet" in this thread for others. It's not a strawman because I'm not making an argument, I'm giving you examples of enthusiast rhetoric that turns people off; it's not "something stupid that someone else once said", it's a category of condescending platitudes commonly laid out by bitcoin enthusiasts. > presenting an actual argument versus my "intellectually insulting" idea that Bitcoin might touch on some mammalian "fear of change" My point is that painting bitcoin skeptics as irrational people who can't help but lash out due to a subconscious fear of what bitcoin might mean for world economics is insulting and also subtly pushes the narrative that bitcoin is such a clearly amazing technology that it would be reasonable to ascribe fear of bitcoin's success as a motivator for negative reactions to bitcoin. It's absurd.
- moe 12y ago
  A direct quote from waterlesscloud: >There's some truly transformative tech at the core of Bitcoin. Calling the blockchain technology transformative doesn't put him in a bucket with people claiming "it will stop wars, stop corruption, free the people". Even if you disagree with that assertion, his comment was about the discussion culture surrounding bitcoin and certainly didn't deserve any downvotes. (the irony of seeing this particular comment grayed out was what triggered mine after all...) My point is that painting bitcoin skeptics as irrational people What's with the generalizations? I wrote "many people" and not "bitcoin skeptics". I was referring to people who can't be bitcoin skeptics by the sheer virtue of not knowing enough about it to form a coherent argument against it. People who seem to never get tired of regurgitating the ever same tulip bulb and "criminals" trites at every opportunity. People who downvote completely innocent comments like the one from waterlesscloud and make any normal discussion about the subject needlessly hard. Bitcoin skeptics are most welcome (I consider myself one), but you rarely see someone who actually knows a thing about Bitcoin (e.g. 0xFEED) bother posting in amidst the shitstorm anymore.